One of the major advances in digital technology is the emergence of Natural User Interfaces (NUI), which allow users to make use of technology without needing special training or knowledge. A NUI is a system that enables human-computer interaction so that the user operates through intuitive actions such as gestures, speech, natural motions, expressions, eyesight movements and so on. There are multiple NUI technologies being developed like Multi-touch, speech inputs, gestural inputs, augmented reality, behavioral analysis and interpretation and so on.
Although each NUI technology enhances user interface with computing and provides a definite output, a combination of the NUI technologies in a combined NUI will allow users to take advantage of benefits from various NUI technologies simultaneously. Consider an example of monitoring a patient. A frantic waving of hands recognized by a gesture recognition device, combined with the recognition of the words ‘Pain’, or ‘Not able to breathe’ with the help of a speech recognition solution can provide a reasonably accurate alarm for a heart attack victim.
However combining these NUI technologies to form a single NUI is complicated and has some issues. Generally, different companies develop NUIs and depending on the preference of the company providing the technology, the core programming platform used by the companies may differ. This may lead to issues related to platform compatibility and interoperability when trying to combine various NUIs. Also the same technology manufactured by two different companies differs in specification and performance. Further, data from different NUIs cannot be correlated.